Mole (sauce)

• 1. Introduction

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  Mole is a traditional Mexican sauce and marinade, and its name comes from the Nahuatl word mōlli, meaning sauce. At the 2005 festival in the city of Puebla, cooks broke the world record for the largest pot of it. The pot stood 1.9 meters high, and that single batch fed 11,000 people. Ninety-nine percent of Mexicans have tried at least one kind of mole, yet no one can say for certain who made the first. Convent nuns, a monk and a viceroy all turn up in the competing stories. This documentary follows the sauce from those legends to the clay pots, the mountain town and the festivals that keep it alive. Along the way it asks what a Mexican means by saying someone is going to a mole, and why that phrase is tied to a wedding.

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• 2. Legends of Origin

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  Early in the colonial period, the nuns of the Convent of Santa Clara in Puebla heard that the archbishop was coming to visit. They were poor and had almost nothing to serve, so they panicked and prayed. Then they pooled what little they had: nuts, chili peppers, spices, day-old bread and a bit of chocolate. They killed an old turkey, cooked it and poured the sauce over the top. The archbishop loved it. When someone asked one nun the name of the dish, she replied, "I made a mole." Mole is an archaic word for mix. Today it mostly names the dish and is rarely used for other mixtures in Spanish.

  A second version gives the credit to a monk named Fray Pascual, who was again cooking for the archbishop of Puebla. In his telling, spice containers were knocked or blown over, and their contents spilled into pots where chicken was cooking. Other versions swap the archbishop for the viceroy of New Spain, Juan de Palafox y Mendoza.

  Two Mexican states, Puebla and Oaxaca, both claim to be the birthplace of mole. The best-known moles are native to those two states, although other regions make their own. The classic version is mole poblano, a dark red or brown sauce served over meat. It has become a symbol of Mexico's mestizaje, the mixed indigenous and European heritage, both for its ingredients and for the legends around its origin. Mole poblano has even been called the national dish of Mexico, and it ranked first among the dishes seen as most typically Mexican.

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• 3. Indigenous Roots

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  Long before any convent kitchen entered the story, Nahuatl speakers prepared a dish they called mōlli or chīlmōlli, which meant chili sauce. In his book General History of the Things of New Spain, Bernardino de Sahagún says that mollis went into dishes of fish, game and vegetables. Some theories hold that mole was imposed on the native peoples. Others credit the baroque artistry of Puebla. The evidence is not strong enough for a definitive answer.

  Modern mole blends ingredients from North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. That makes it one of the first intercontinental dishes created in the Americas. Its base, however, is indigenous.

  In pre-Hispanic Mexico, chocolate was mostly a beverage rather than a sweet. Historical evidence points to earlier uses in sacred rituals and as a form of currency. A very large number of mole recipes existed across prehispanic Mesoamerica, but few if any contained chocolate. The Mexica kept it for drinks, and Sahagún never describes it flavoring a dish. Chocolate joined mole much later.

  On English-language menus, the word often appears in a different spelling. That spelling is a hyperforeignism not used in Spanish, probably meant to separate the sauce from the English animal. In modern recipes that call for chocolate, it goes in at the very end of cooking.

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• 4. Anatomy of a Mole

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  Every mole begins with at least one kind of chili pepper. The classic moles of Central Mexico and Oaxaca, such as mole poblano and mole negro, use two or more of these: ancho, pasilla, mulato and chipotle. Around the chilis gather black pepper, achiote, huaje, cumin, clove, anise, tomato, tomatillo, garlic, sesame seed, dried fruit and herbs like hoja santa. In general, a mole combines fruits, nuts, chilis and spices such as cinnamon.

  An average mole poblano holds about 20 ingredients. Mole almendrado, the version with almond, averages 26. Oaxacan moles can pass 30.

  According to Rick Bayless, those ingredients fall into five classes. Chili supplies the heat, tomatillo the sour, fruit and sugar the sweet, and spices the aroma. Seeds, nuts and tortilla make the sauce thick.

  Mole negro gets its black colour from two choices. The cook chars several of the ingredients, and adds a greater amount of chocolate.

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• 5. Hands and Clay Pots

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  Roasting and grinding the ingredients into a fine powder or paste takes at least a day when done by hand. Traditionally, several generations of women in a family shared this work. After electric mills arrived, it became more common to carry the ingredients out to be ground. Many families keep their own variety, passed down for generations, and cook it in large batches for special events.

  The powder or paste is mixed with water or broth and simmered until it is pungent and very thick. Cooks often use a cazuela, a heavy clay cauldron, and stir almost constantly so the sauce does not burn. Patricia Quintana, an authority on Mexican food, said mole is too substantial to be called a sauce. Even so, it is always served over something and never eaten alone. Mole poblano traditionally goes over turkey, though chicken, pork and lamb are also used.

  Prepared sauce keeps for about three days in the refrigerator and freezes well. The paste lasts six months in the refrigerator and about a year in the freezer. Leftover sauce often ends up on tamales and enchiladas, where the dish is called enmolada, or over eggs at brunch.

  Pastes and powders of mole poblano, mole negro and mole colorado can be made ahead and sold by the kilogram, in Mexican markets and abroad.

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• 6. Many Moles

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  Oaxaca has been called the land of the seven moles. Its size, mountains, many indigenous peoples and microclimates produce a wide range of regional foods. Its moles include amarillo, chichilo, colorado, estofado, manchamantel, negro, rojo and verde, each colored and flavored by distinctive chilis and herbs. Manchamantel, a chicken and fruit stew whose name means tablecloth stainer, is questioned by Susana Trilling in her book My Search for the Seventh Mole: A Story with Recipes from Oaxaca, Mexico. She asks whether it is a true mole at all, and people from Puebla claim the dish as their own. Within Oaxaca, the Mixteca makes mole blanco, also called mole de movia, and the coast makes mole costeño.

  Elsewhere in central and southern Mexico, Michoacán has mole michoacano, Tlaxcala has mole prieto, and Morelos has mole ranchero. Tamaulipas has mole tamaulipeco, and Xico in Veracruz has mole xiqueño. Mole verde gets its color from pumpkin seeds and green chile. In Veracruz, a version covers pork in a sauce of ground peanut, tomatillo and cilantro. Mole pipián is built mostly on ground squash seeds, and a red version adds peanut and sesame. Mole rosa from Taxco, Guerrero, is very mild.

  In Yucatán and Belize, a dish called chimole is known as Black Dinner because of its dark look. It gets that color from black recado, an achiote paste blended with spices common in Maya cuisine. The Yucatec Maya knew the dish first, and Belizeans, drawing on their country's cultural diversity, now make it at home for special occasions. Huaxmole is soupy and often served over goat meat. Mole de olla is not a mole in the classic sense. It is a stew of beef and vegetables made with guajillo and ancho chili.

  Even guacamole belongs to the family. Its name comes from āhuacamōlli, literally avocado sauce, built from āhuacatl, the word for avocado, and mōlli.

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• 7. The Town of San Pedro Atocpan

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  San Pedro Atocpan is an agricultural community in the mountains south of Mexico City. Until the mid-20th century it grew corn, fava bean and nopal like its neighbors. Electricity and other modern conveniences arrived slowly, so the town kept its traditions longer.

  In 1940, Father Damian Sartes San Roman came to the parish and saw that marketing mole could raise living standards. At that time only four neighborhoods made it for town festivals: Panchimalco, Ocotitla, Nuztla and Tula. The cooks were generally prominent women in their communities. In the 1940s, one family made the long trip to the La Merced Market in Mexico City to sell mole. They carried only two kilograms, because it was made by grinding the ingredients by hand on a metate.

  Electricity in the late 1940s made powered mills possible, and better roads eased the trip. Father Sartes bought or financed some of the mills, but the mole was still cooked in a clay pot over a wood fire. In the 1970s he joined a small group that became a cooperative and built the Las Cazuelas restaurant. The first Mole Exhibition was held there in 1978.

  Today San Pedro Atocpan produces 60% of the moles eaten in Mexico and 89% of those eaten in Mexico City. Estimated output runs between 28,000 and 30,000 tons each year. Ninety-two percent of residents make a living preparing mole powders and pastes, all in family businesses. Prices run between 80 and 160 pesos per kilogram. Mole almendrado is the signature of the area, and producers often keep their recipes strictly secret. Only twenty-two brands are permitted to print "Made in San Pedro Atocpan" on their labels.

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• 8. Festivals and Sayings

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  In Mexico, to say "ir a un mole" means to go to a wedding. Mole is tied to celebrations, and its strong flavor, especially in the dark versions, makes it an acquired taste for most people. That gave rise to another saying, "(estar) en su mero mole," which means something like being in one's element.

  The Feria Nacional del Mole began in 1977 in San Pedro Atocpan and is held each October. It started outside the town, in the small community of Yenhuitlalpan, in May. Four restaurants there decided to use the festival of the Señor de las Misericordias to promote their moles. Some villagers disliked using a religious festival for commercial ends, so a separate festival was created for October. Today 37 restaurants and producers take part, and the most popular variety is mole almendrado. When the fair outgrew the town, it moved to fairgrounds outside along the highway.

  The city of Puebla holds its own annual festival, and its proceeds are shared among the Santa Rosa, Santa Inés and Santa Catarina convents. The women of Santa María Magdalena in Querétaro have been known locally for their mole for about 100 years. In 1993 they held a contest for the best mole, which grew into the Feria del Mole y Tortilla, held every year since. The community of Coatepec de Morelos, in the municipality of Zitácuaro, Michoacán, holds a Feria de Mole each April.

  Mole is most popular in central and southern Mexico. Simpler versions of mole poblano traveled north, where they are far less complex and generally used for enchiladas. In the United States, several brands of mole paste are sold in stores and online. Chicago has an annual mole festival for Mexican immigrants at the Universidad Popular community center. It is a cooking contest that drew over 40 entries, and the winner took home US$500.

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